Finally Arrived

It's difficult to describe but all the places we have been coming and into the Bahamas it just never felt like we were really there. Surprisingly when we arrived here in Marsh Harbour today I finally felt I had arrived.

It's difficult because I never really enjoyed Marsh Harbour that much before, but today I feel a real peacefulness riding on the hook in Marsh Harbour. in the past it was only a place for provisions and laundry.

Probably because there are so few boats here. Tonight I counted only 25 on the hook. I remember back in 2006 I counted as many as 98 here one day when I was a Volunteer weather reporter for BASRA.

We plan to stay a few days and re-provision a bit and then move on. I haven't checked Hope Town mooring availability but I expect it to be poor. There are more rental sailboats out and about then I have ever seen before but is probably due to the holidays. I have never been here before the lst of the year before.

The weather is unbelievably mild for so many days. I sure hope we don't have to pay for this later.

We are anchored here tonight along with Bubbles and Skat. Got down here late like 4pm today so no exploring tonight but tomorrow we will show those other crews around. Hopefully I'll have some good reports and nothing so dismal as my Guana Cay report.

Ohh kudos to the self serve laundry in Treasure Cay. We took 2 loads in today and the lady that runs it showed us to commercial washing machines. We loaded and went to the grocery. Twenty five minutes later we returned to load into the dryer and the lady said she had low water pressure and it just started to wash. She offered to throw all into dryers later. So we left and returned an hour and half later. She had dried and folded all the stuff and packed in our bags. The cost was 4$ per load to wash and dry and thus $16. I gave her a twenty and said no change. It was a delightful surprise.

What happened to Guana Cay?

We anchored off Guana Cay yesterday and thought it was kind of funny that we were the only boats there. Later three other anchored but that was all. It was difficult to find the sandy spots to anchor but then it became obvious that there is little anchoring going on here now. We later found a good reason why. That new marina in Bakers Bay above us had a lot of of small boat but big wake traffic and it really made the anchorage uncomfortable.

Today we went to the settlement and what a disappointment. There were 3 boats in the Orchid Bay marina there and 2 on moorings. We went in around 10am and there was no foot traffic -- just an occasional golf cart. We went up to Nippers and the ocean beach and nada -- Nippers was open but no one there.

The shops in town were either closed today or permanently. That great cafe bakery was boarded up. Several other buildings were boarded up. It was just dead!! The old harbour grocery is in a new building but still quite small.

I can't believe the millions of dollars of development that went on here and especially around Bakers BAy but the ol Guana Cay business area is just dead now. Hell all these places to live now and no one here. How depressing.


We couldn't take it anymore so before lunch we packed up and headed to Treasure Cay just 2 hours away. It still was like the ol days -- at least the harbour -- but more condos than you can shake a stick at. What insanity.

The only grocery store is still the same but little traffic.. Where do these folks get their groceries or is there no influx of people to match all the new housing?

Unbelievable. The grocery prices are higher here but just under Green Turtle Cay prices. The liquor store is cheaper but that is all. It is quite quiet here in the mooring/anchorage field here tonight. Ohh Skat, Bubbles and us are all anchored tonight.

The beach here is one of the 10 best in the world and tomorrow we will invade it and maybe play some Bocci Ball.

Merry Christmas and moving on again

Merry Christmas to all.

We had a very nice Christmas day yesterday. Karen was able to contact all our children on Iphone Face Time and we had a nice visit. Matt did the turkey and they all gathered at our house of which Matt is the proprietor for now and doing a great job of keeping it all together and taking care of our mail.

Here on Green Turtle cay we celebrated the Christmas dinner with a cruisers pot luck on Brendel's Dive Shop properties -- Thank You Brendel -- he also furnished 2 gallons of Goombay Smash -- an Island Rum punch.

We enjoyed the holiday with our Carolina cruising buddies -- Jim and Barb also Buck and Vickie who we have cruised with for 22 years, Craig and Dovie and Dell and Cory who have cruised with us for 14 years. A great time.

Today we all left the Green Turtle Club to finally live off the anchor for awhile and stop the money drain!! It was $67 a day to stay at the Green Turtle Club but it was worth it. Now we will bounce from anchorage to anchorage and just put in for food and water and maybe some fuel. I topped the fuel tank today with 40 gallons so I'm good for a long time here in the Abacos.

Today we went around the Whale Cay Passage to Great Guana Cay. The Whale is every Bahamas cruisers nightmare. It is impassable some days and you have to wait for a window. Today it was WIDE OPEN and easily navigated. Bubble and Skat came across with us and we are in the "Hub of the Abacos". Everyplace easily reached now.

WE will stay here for a few days then hopefully go back across the Whale to Green Turtle Cay for Junkanoo on New YEars Day.

We need to find some cheaper groceries right now. On Green Turtle Cay all provisions are three times what we pay in the states -- like a 12oz Log cabin Syrup for $8.95 or a cucumber for $3.77. Over here and at Treasure cay we pay twice as much. In Marsh Harbor it is 1.5 times as much.

Ohh the little things that count.

Tomorrow we will explore Great Guana and go to Nipper's, the ocean beach, the grocery store and stop at Milo's strand for fresh veggies and LOBSTER TAILS -- they call them cray fish in the Bahamas but they are LObsters with out the big claws. My mouth is watering already.

1st Day Winter Green Turtle Cay Bahamas

Yesterday was the winter Solsitce -- 1st day of winter. Not bad here in the Bahamas. The picture of me is on the Bluff House Beach with New Plymouth in Green Turtle Cay in the background and the Sea of Abaco. Not bad. High was 75 and a low of 70. Eat ytour hearts out northerners!! The living is easy that's why I don't update every day now. We moved over to the Bluff House Marina yesterday but today we needed to do 2 weeks of laundry in their "new facilities". It was a disaster. They had 3 working washing machines out of 4 and NO working dryers. We were besides ourselves. The docks are not friendly to sailboats for egress and this was too much. I checked out and moved BACK to the more expensive Green Turtle Club to dry the clothes and wait out the coming severe weather which apparently is becoming less severe and taking longer to get here. Bubbles and Skat also checked out and moved over here. Ohh well it is only money and the entire Carolina Contingent is again together; Victoria Gaye, Bubbles, Skat, Temptation, and High Flite on the hook just a stones throw away. The laundry and moving marinas took way too much time but that's cruising somedays. I was able to get another swim in the atlantic though. Beautiful beach and just a bit too cool water but great nevertheless. This morning I heard distance drumming around 4:30am. I learned later that there was a tradition here of folks beating drums between 4 and 6 am to "awaken the Christmas spirit". I hoped it worked. Lots of decorations and Christmas music abound even though this looks like the tropics.

Great Crossing to the Bahamas

WOW we made it and in one piece with no equipment failure. This is a tough crossing when you do it in one day what many take 3 days to do. We left Lake Worth Inlet in Palm Beach Florida at 7:30am, found the Gulf Stream very mild and made it across to the Little Bahama Banks by 5pm. Got to see the ground come up in daylight.

We just carried on and crossed all the banks in the dark. No moon till 1:15am and it was small. We had very gentle conditions on the banks and used AIS and radar to navigate through the boat traffic and some rocky areas like "Barracuda Rock Channel". Lots of boats had stopped at Great Sale Cay and Mangrove Cay for the night but we just carried on. You have to trust your instrumentation and ability to use it to do that. We had daylight just as we passed Crab Cay and entered the Sea of Abaco. We made it to Green Turtle Cay by 9am and took a slip at the Green Turtle Club. We planned to stay a few days but I can't get emails on their WiFi system so may move tomorrow.

I'd write more but I need sleep. I only had a 2 hour nap today after being up nearly 30 hours.

It's still hard to believe we finally made it here today in our boat.

Just a lay day here at North Lake Worth

Not much to report.

We are just killing time till our Monday Crossing Window. All the forecasts still show Monday as a GOOD day.

Trying to get more info from the posse that crossed and arrived in Green Turtle Last night but they are stingy with the reports -- already on Island Time I guess.

Buck and I finalized our crossing plans, Karen made a run to CVS for last minute delicacies.

Wind blew moderate here today and one Canadian boat dragged anchor with no one aboard but didn't hit anything till the owners arrived and re-anchored the boat.

Too many clouds to see the meteor shower last night but I tried.

Early to bed tonight and off to the main Lake Worth tomorrow for another crossing attempt. Boy I wish you could store up sleep credits. When we cross I'll be up for about 30 hours.

Everything Changes and Carolina Posse in the Abacos

This morning we launched the dinghy and went to the "sand Spit" here to tie up and walk to the Publix grocery.

The sand spit which was always small for maybe a dozen crowded dinghies is 1/3 the original size. They expanded the bridge here and too the space from the sand spit. Real tuff to find a spot and tie up now.

Once at the Publix which used to be cruiser friendly I found no place that I could drop trash -- everything is behind chain link fences and locked -- really!! Trash is that precious now? It is to discourage the cruisers. The natives here really hate the carefree cruisers. Most have more money than most can dream about but boy they don't want to share anything with the cruisers. Very disappointing.

Grocery prices are almost twice what they were at home in October. Is just this part of Florida or has that happened everywhere?

Well with the latest weather reports we should be able to leave here Sunday and stage for a Bahamas crossing on Monday.

We heard from Craig and Dovie on Bubbles. They anchored at Great Sale Cay at 4am and expected to leave and continue on to Green Turtle Cay at 8:30am. No word yet but I expect they have either arrived or anytime now.

Nonetheless they are in the Bahamas and we are not!! Only time.

Victoria Gaye finished their sea trials today and all looks good. They plan to cross with us on Monday. Ohh Boy.

The anchorage here has many boats but not crowded. Either most have already crossed or it's being passed for more convenient areas.

Crossing?? Not today

Well we tried to do the crossing. Even waited till nearly noon before going out but the conditions were rock and roll. Not dangerous and doable but very uncomfortable and especially for Karen. We went about 3 miles offshore and called it quits. Our posse went on without us. Best of luck to them and I should hear from them tomorrow.

We ran back to the inlet and through a gauntlet of law enforcement before arriving at North Lake Worth. This is almost like Vero Beach but no bus. You have to dinghy to a little sand spit below the A1A bridge then walk a half block to a mall with a Publics grocery -- a VERY LARGE PUBLICS. Remember this is Palm Beach Florida.

Ohh this also the hole of JAck Nicholas and other PGA greats. That's why it is called PGA Boulevard.

The next crossing window is Monday so we won't have to wait long. The anchorage here is not too crowded since so many folks left yesterday and today for a crossing. More will fill in till Monday.

We are not alone. Victoria Gaye from the original Posse is also here but at the Old Port Cove Marina. Buck is sill testing his boat to be sure the vibration issue is resolved before attempting a crossing. Hopefully they will join us on Monday.

Gauntlet of law enforcement? This has got to be the icing on the cake for law enforcement. Circling he anchorage this morning we had 3 Florida Wildlife boats with 3 officers each, a Palm Beach Police boat with 3 officers, a Homeland Security boat with 2 officers, and a Coast Guard boat with 6 persons. Just circling and occasionally stopping passing boats to check them.. Unbelievable!! Just associating with the law abiding tax paying folks. Probably wouldn't want to associate with known criminal areas.

Ohhh Boy --staged to cross to the Bahamas tomorrow.

We are anchored here near Peanut Island in LAke Worth for a morning departure to the Bahamas. Wish us luck.

The forecast is for benign motoring conditions but we have been fooled before.

The whole gang minus Victoria Gaye are here tonight. Victoria Gaye developed severe vibrations this afternoon and they had to pull into a marina near the PGA bridge to have it looked at. Horribly the issue disappeared when the mechanic came. He made a few adjustments but recommend they run the boat in the ICW hard for a few days to see if the issue returns --- BUMMER... They won't cross with us tomorrow.

We fueled up and watered up at Old Port Cove Marina -- where Tiger Woods used to keep his boat until the scandal. Great place because it is also near where Jack Nicholson and some other PGA greats live -- North Lake Worth.

Because of the strong tidal currents in LAke Worth Inlet we won't leave until late tomorrow morning. Slack tide is at 12:30pm but we should leave before that.

Hopefully the next post will be from out in the great Atlantic while we are crossing tomorrow night.

Ahhh back in the saddle again

We left Vero Beach this morning. Had a long about 50 mile trip to HOBE SOUND in Jupiter Florida. It went well and fast. We left at 7:30am and had the hook down at 2:30pm. Nice timing. Only two bridge openings and they were on demand.

We have a FLOTILLA heading south. We have Bubbles, Skat, Victoria Gaye and Hi Flite (cory and dale) going with us.

It looks like a great crossing opportunity this Thursday and Friday so we are working our way down to Palm Beach -- Lake Worth Inlet to begin the crossing.

We should be in Lake Worth near Peanut Island tomorrow afternoon to stage for a Thursday morning crossing -- hopefully all the way non stop to Green Turtle cay in about 24 - 30 hours. Our good friend Mark Haskell is flying down to Palm Beach to join Jim and Barb on Skat for their crossing. Should be GREAT FUN.

Tomorrow is only an 18 mile day but 6 bridge openings. Two on demand and 4 on a schedule. That means it will take twice as long.

Once anchored in Lake Worth we will make the boats ready for the crossing. All loose stuff put away and everything else tied down. We hope to cross the Gulf Stream in daylight but run most the Little Bahama Banks at night and on instruments. It is not too terribly scary at night.

I like Vero but good gosh everyone has a Honda Generator or now and the air is filled with exhaust and noise -- not like back in 2005 when only I and few other had a generator.

Our boat Temptation has a HUGE generator built in. The 3-cylinder Yanmar that powers the 8KW Onan is bigger than the motor I had on Luna Sea where I made my first single handed crossing.

Temptation's genset will run everything at the same tine. Two heat pumps, Two battery chargers and water heater and microwave. It's BIG, but we do use it sparingly because it does like diesel -- about 1/2 gallon an hour.

Time to enjoy the sunset tonight -- hopefully Thursday night we will be enjoying BAHAMAS sunsets.

Ohhh maybe crossing soon!!

Well the gang is all here now. Bubbles arrived a few days ago and is acclimating to Vero Beach.

We are just relaxing some and catching up on some jobs on the boats. Time to recover and regroup while we await a crossing window. Getting around on the bus and bike are excellent here. I won't ride the bike in the bike lanes because there are too m any OLD drivers about that really shouldn't be driving anymore but the sidewalk system is A1 and the locals don't use them.

The NOAA forecasts and Chris are pointing to a pretty nice window next week December 9, 10. I hope it holds because we are ready to GO!.

Vero is nice but not as pleasant as I remember. Not sure what is different if anything. Maybe just the newness wore off.

We will spend the next couple of days finishing provisioning for a crossing and probably leave to stage in North Lake Worth (North Palm Beach) either this Friday or Saturday.

We are experiencing frequent squalls today but this is a good place to have them -- nice and protected.

Vero Lotus Leaf Eaters

Sorry about not posting a blog entry yesterday but we were just caught up in the easy living here at Vero Beach -- reason they call it "Velcro Beach". You just don't want to leave. All basic needs are met here.

The day to day goings on will be pretty boring for awhile. Thus I'll post when something interesting occurs -- like Thanksgiving Dinner this coming Thursday.

Other than that not much to say until we get moving again which will all be directed towards a crossing to the Bahamas -- Then lots to post.

Enjoy the Hiatus.

Life in Paradise - sort of

Ahhh slept well last night. Today we ride the bus to Publics Grocery. Not that we really need much but just to do some impulse food buying.

The dinghy dock is PACKED. Not too unusual but many dingiest are not tied up well -- painters too short for so many dinghies. We land and walk to the bus stop -- first ones there. Then some more folks come but there is no establish queue here so they maneuver to try to be the first ones aboard. All the folks that show up -- do. I haven't seen that aggressive waiting before here -- just a new crop of cruisers and I think most are from parts far north like VA, PA, MI, NY. Little manners displayed from there. Can't seem to turn that competitiveness off.

Great shopping experience as usual. We then look for the bus stop -- it's not right out front anymore. We have to go to the highway. Hmmm bus probably wont be here for another 40 minutes. Looked like we missed it by only 5 minutes. We will understand this schedule shortly.

Rather than wait we cross the street and catch the bus on its outward trip to the hub. It is different -- just an abandoned rode at the airport. Everyone has to get off and wait for all the busses to arrive and then get back on. BAck to the marina uneventfully.

After lunch I take my back to shore and put it together. I'm cautioned to be sure to lock it up since a passer by tells me his bike was stolen last week from here.

A trip to the hardware store and 7-11. Perfect afternoon for a six mile bike trip -- much further than I expected.

BAck on the boat to relax and then we have a social planning session on Victoria Gaye to plan our joint Thanksgiving Celebration on Salty Turtle next Thursday.

It was fun and Vickie served her dynamite corn dip -- sounds plan but it is not -- Great.

BAck on Temptation for a very light dinner and end to an enjoyable day here at Vero BEach Marina.

Tomorrow's forecast is for rain and thunderstorms so probably won't leave the boat tomorrow. That's okay.

Yee-oow

Well it was definitely rolly most of the night last night at Melbourne. The sea didn't settle down till about 4 am. Normally not an issue but I had filled our big water tank full the day before and if it is 3/4 or more full it makes loud sloshing sounds when we roll.

We had a nice fast run to Vero Beach this morning and made most of it before the winds really piped up again. Buck had negotiated a single mooring ball for all of us to raft up on. I didn't need fuel or water yet so I was elected to grab the ball first and they would raft to us.

All went well until I pulled the mooring ball painter in and saw were there was no loop in it. Just a finished end!! What do I do?! I quickly put a slip knot on the end to a cleat then tried to pull enough line in that I could cleat it properly. Unfortunately a gust of wind caught us and the part of the rope that my left had on that was pulling for slack got stretched out and pinched my knuckles between the rope and a stanchion. Ohh that hurt and there was nothing I could do., Too much pressure to pull my hand free so I had to wait for the gust to subside and then loosed my hand OUCH..

I got the line cleated then headed for some ice for my knuckles. Or maybe it was to grab a beer and then some ice.

Victoria Gaye and Skat had no trouble rafting to us Thus we had all arrived in Cruisers paradise -- Velcro Beach but my enthusiasm was diminished by my hurt hand.

Tonight it is much better and fortunately nothing broke or burst.

Here we will stay for at least 10 days and celebrate Thanksgiving here. Tomorrow it is a trip to the Publics Grocery for some needed treats -- provisioning is still good but can never have enough treats to share when entertaining which we hope happens a lot over the next several days.

Blitzen today

This morning dawned cold here in Titusville -- 43 degrees. Still it was time to go. We thought we would wait till the Sun warmed the enclosure but it was cloudy and all our buds were leaving around 8am.

We prepped and left at 8:30am. Our exit was much more controlled and dignified than our entrance. Once under way we had a favorable wind from the North around 10 - 14. We motor sailed for a few hours but as we approached Cocoa Beach the wind was dead astern and the sail would flog at times. I pulled it in and then in about an hour the wind piped up to 20 to 30 kts but still dead astern. With no sail up we cruised at 7.3 - 7.5 kts. My big ol enclosure acts as a mini sail. It started to get a little rolly with the following seas building and pushing along. Not uncomfortable but had to stay ever vigilant at the helm or we were pushed were we didn't want to go.

Skat and Victoria Gaye talked me into going to the Melbourne Causeway to anchor on the south side and supposedly nice and calm. We passed Dragon point -- my preferred anchorage -- in these conditions to try something new. The Melbourne causeway was not bad but still a bit rolly where I knew there would have been none at Dragon Point. Unfortunately Dragon Point was now 4 miles upwind and we didn't want to bash into that.

The forecast is for the wind to die down tonight and so far it has gone down a lot but still rolly here.

The engine ran fine with its fresh oil change and new alternator belt. Belt was still fine after we pulled in here but it didn't do any real work today since we left with fully charged batteries. Tomorrow will be the test and again we should make Vero around noon, and then it is no fuss life on a mooring ball for at least 10 days and a few more until we see our window for crossing to the Bahamas.

As I sit in this 65 degree boat tonight with temps forecast to get down to 50 -- I can't wait to get to the Bahamas and put this cold stuff behind us for the entire WINTER!

Brrrrrr

I know I'm preaching to the choir but it is cold for us here today. Just yesterday it was 85 degrees and we wanted to run the AC for a while last night. The cold air came here around 3:30am today. It was 53 at 7:30am and then 47 by 3pm. Cold and rainy all day.

We did a little laundry today and I wrestled with that alternator belt for over an hour today. Putting a belt on a marine engine is not the same as a car. Access is very limited and you work mostly by feel. You can't see most of the fasteners you are working with.

We had a nice visit with John and Madeline Knie on the NEW Chanceaux. It is a 42 foot Juneau. Absolutely gorgeous and impeccably maintained by John and Madeline. We talked about previous trips to the Bahamas, the crossings, and what we hope for this year. I'm really looking forward to Christmas and New Years on Green Turtle Cay if possible.

Filled the water tanks today and got ready to move tomorrow. It will be cold at 43 with winds N at 15 - 20. We will wait till the sun warms our enclosure and then be off for Melbourne. Probably anchor either at Dragon Point or behind the causeway at Melbourne. Then Thursday onto Vero for at least 10 days there to celebrate Thanksgiving and look for our weather window to cross to the Bahamas.. Won't need the heat anymore once we do that.

An Exageration -- again

Today dawned warm and humid and then got very warm -- 85 degrees.

I was off early to the NAPA dealer for 2 gallons of Motor oil Rotella T and a replacement belt for the alternator. Damn if they didn't have it all and I noticed some loose bearings for sale. BAck on Temptation I checked the part number for the bearings used in the KISS Wind Generator and they had them. I went back and got those. I'll change those later or when I have too.

Later Karen and I took the bikes and made some minor purchases at the Sav A LOT grocery and the CVS store.

Back on the boat to wait for the HUGE STORM expected. They had all kinds of warnings out for high winds and lightning this afternoon and evening.

In the meantime Victoria Gaye, Skat, and Chanceaux showed up and took slips. All had minor difficulties docking here so I didn't feel too bad about our poor performance yesterday. Bubbles checked in and they took a slip in the St. Augustine marina. All our buds are safely tucked in tonight.

The weather radar had a distinct cold front line coming here with a lot of red in it. When it hit -- not much. No real wind and minor rain which did turn heavy but no Armageddon.

It's cooling off slowly and winds still calm after the frontal passage. I'm sure it will come out later but nothing really out of the ordinary for now.

We will do some laundry tomorrow and some minor chores on the motor -- change that alternator belt. You have to wrestle it on so I'm hoping for cooler temps.

Still raining so I expect no games tonight. Just a comfortable early evening.

I saw a Manatee today

Man you would think that with all the manatee warnings signs, speed control, channel control those critters would be coming out of the woodwork. Mostly NOT. I have hardly ever seen a Manatee.

Today we ran from New Smyrna Beach to Titusville. I thought we would go further say to Cocoa then on to Dragon Point tomorrow to make a stand on anchor against the horrible weather forecast for tomorrow night and Tuesday. However -- today they changed the forecast to have more wind and thunderstorms. Wind expected now is 25 - 30kts instead of 20 - 25. Doesn't sound like much of a change but it is. At 30kts boats are known to break loose from their anchorages. That and the high Tuesday will only be 52. That is COLD in an unheated boat in the rain and on the hook.

We, or actually I, chickened out and decided to go into the Titusville Marina today to wait out this weather. It's time to change the oil in the main engine and we can plug our heat pump in.

Today was an unbelievable mild day with winds around 6 kts. Glass smooth across the Mosquito Lagoon, and temps in the low 80s this afternoon. A BIG change coming tomorrow.

We made it to the marina just before 1pm and tied up in a slip. It was not pretty because they put us in a slip for a much longer boat and we had trouble getting our lines on the outboard pilings. Fortunately with such mild winds no damage occurred.

Just as I was stepping off the boat to adjust lines I saw this big cloud of brown stuff come up from under the boat. It was a HUGE Manatee. Ohh man it was cool.

After checking in I changed the engine oil while it was hot and so glad I did. I noticed the alternator belt had a chunk of rubber out of it!! Oh boy it was going to let go anytime now.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and planning our bike assault on Titusville tomorrow morning. No storms expected till the afternoon. Then all hell breaks loose for about 36 hours.

I'm glad I'm tied to a dock for a few days now.

A fine ride today

It was time to be moving on this morning. The goal was Rockhouse Creek just south of Daytona about 39 miles.

WE had a great ride today. The current was with us and the wind was behind us and running between 10 and 18kts. Perfect for motor sailing. We probably averaged 7.0 kts but at times we had long runs at 7.3 and 7.5. Just blasted through Daytona.

We were the first boat to anchor here today in Rockhouse. It was only 1:15pm and we could have gone on but I was tired -- probably from that Tetanus shot yesterday. Fortunately no fever or sore arm.

We are just going to relax today and then push hard tomorrow. A major weather system comes in on Monday and will leave us in rain and cold and high winds Tuesday and Wednesday. I want to get behind Dragon point near Melbourne as early as possible Monday. Thus we will probably just bypass Titusville tomorrow and push on for another maybe 15 miles. That would leave just 21 miles on Monday.

The weather is what it is about. You can't just ignore it because it has a major impact on your safety, comfort, and ability to move around.

We had another fine night of Farkle. Damn if Karen didn't will all the games again. She was unbeatable. I had some great scores but couldn't pull a win out. Vickie played one game and had a great time. More Farkle in her life down the road.

Tonight will be a quiet night. Early to bed and early to rise. There may be some storms this evening but clearing after midnight with a light air day tomorrow. Hopefully we can make a lot of miles tomorrow.

Medicine Man

Well I had to capitulate today and get some treatment for my knee. After yesterday's home treatment of Epsom salt compresses it was looking like hamburger this morning.

Fortunately there is a "Minute Clinic" just 2 miles away so I hopped my bike and rode there.

I spent 45 minutes on paperwork and 3 minutes in treatment. Nothing too unusual just some special cream and antibiotics ordered up. Didn't even replace my bandages!

While getting the prescriptions filled I went to a Public's grocery mostly for a treat for me for being such a good boy at the doctors today. Can't pass a Suntrust ATM without grabbing some cash. Anywhere else and we have to pay a fee.

Well that killed 3 hours this morning so not much else to do today. Topped off oil in the engine, checked weather for the next few days -- a little rain and cool temps in store -- and paid the bill so we can leave early tomorrow. Next stop will be in Daytona Beach to anchor.

Made the reservation for Vero -- next Thursday the 20th. We will be there for Thanksgiving and a bit after.

Boy the living is easy here at Palm Coast Marina. The time just flows along.

Ohh the Farkle tournament last night .... Don't ask!!

Well Karen won all three games. Two games Jim went out first but Karen came back and wiped him out. Buck stayed a spectator and Vickie did great. Later I learned she had been coached by Barb --- Don't ever give Earl 3 dice!! Where have I heard that before?!

Charwoman's work

Today was a chore day. Cruisers are a laid back lot but not when it comes to Laundry. Then they are "CUT THROAT".

This morning about 6:20am I was at the laundry and had beat all the early birds. Three loads started with just 2 machines available. It went well and actually no one came and challenged me but then I never let a machine sit idle.

The ladies Karen, Barb, and Vickie all caught the cab to the grocery. Oh yes Jim joined them but no room for me. I stayed behind with Buck and we cleaned our boats. They hadn't seen soap and water in a month and really needed it.

Boats cleaned up nice, laundry was done, and fresh provisions returned by noon. Not a bad morning.

The afternoon was somewhat laid back with me reading and even took a short nap. Karen got her bike out and went on a 4 mile ride with Jim and Barb. I was invited but didn't go.

I'm re-reading the book "WANDERER" by Sterling Hayden. Written in 1959 but much of his observations are still true today e.g. "What does a man need --really need. A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in -- and some sense of accomplishment. That's all -- in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade."

Remember this was 1959!

Ahh can be a tough read at times but also full of romance about the sea and voyaging.

Now on a lighter note since we are tied to the docks here at PAlm Coast MArina the Farkle will begin again. In fact we have Farkle "virgins" joining us tonight. Buck and Vickie have never played before.

I hope Barb and I can be at least civil tonight and not turn them off. We are cut throat Farkle players

Wish me luck.

The Gangs all here - mostly

We had a relatively long travel day today-- 40 miles.

We left early around 7:30am. It was low tide. Had some scare (6.2') leaving the anchorage but plenty of water in the ICW. The current was against us so it was a slow slog to St Augustine. The marks were very difficult to see this morning. Several times the sun was directly behind and we could not read or discern color. Tough!

We were passed by at least 3 border patrol boats. Very articulated. Once before we were swarmed by homeland security boats. What's the interest in St Augustine?? This has got to be the biggest cake job someone in homeland security or border patrol could have.

Once across the inlet at St Augustine we flew -- 8+ knots to the Bridge of Lions then had to kill 20 minutes till it opened. It was a long boring but quick ride through the Mantanzas River and plenty of water through the Mantanzas Inlet but had to watch for all the can buoys. On into Palm Coast for fuel and pump out. Wow -- I took on 57 gallons of diesel. They moved us to a face dock behind Vic and GiGi on Salty Turtle then put Victoria Gaye in front of us when Buck and Vickie arrived. Jim and Barb on Skat are on an inner face dock.

The gang is all here except for Bubbles Craig and Dovie. They are at Cumberland Island tonight and will cross into Florida tomorrow..

Ahhh terra ferma and strong hot showers. Feels good to be tied to a dock tonight.

The whole gang is going to an Italian Restaurant over at the European Mall about a 10 minute walk away for dinner tonight.

Ahhh the decadence.

Pine Island - Lickety Split

We were ready to leave Ft George River anchorage this morning. At slack tide the boats pointed all over the place. We decided to leave a little earlier than planned like 8am.

It was difficult to pull the anchor. The current and wind had us over the anchor and the windlass would stall as the chain wrapped around the sides of the bow roller. We had to back up to alleviate pressure and get it up.

We were just off low tide and saw some skinny water leaving the anchorage and in the ICW until I got the rhythm down again -- takes about 10 - 15 minutes if I don't move everyday.

Once on our way we had some current on the nose until we hit the St Johns river. The marks and charts did not completely agree so I watched the marks and after a 1/4 mile all was in agreement and we were screaming along at 8 knots with a favorable current.

The first 3 bridges were no problem where at times they can be at peak current. Only one trawler passed us this morning.

The ride down the 10 mile canal was amazing to see so many million + dollar homes in one area. Absolutely gorgeous.

We lost the current about 3 miles from Pine Island but just pushed on. With that favorable current this morning we were in and hook down by 12:30pm. Shortly after that 4 trawlers came in and anchored around us. The largest kept short scoping his anchor and would drag. He must have tried to set it 4 times and then the wind died down and he seems to be okay -- I expect not but the wind should be down all night. The name of that dog leg is Miss Prisca.

Jim and Victoria Gaye made it and we are all anchored here this afternoon.

Then surprisingly BArefoot'n hails us. He had come in and anchored just behind us. Just one big cruising family here tonight except everyone is too lazy to drop dinghies in the water to visit.

Tomorrow we will make Palm Coast Marina. We are skipping St Augustine for now. That infection I had in my right knee has returned and I need medical attention. There is an urgent care near the Palm Coast Marina so I'll have it looked at there.

Unfortunately Palm Coast can only accommodate us for two nights because of reservations so it will be a quick visit for us there. We wanted 3 nights.

Salty Turtle with Vic and Gi are there for another day so we will see them tomorrow night before they move on. WOW what a crowd that will be.

It's nice here tonight and we plan to get an early 7:30am start to get to Palm Coast by early afternoon. I have a LOT to do when we get there. It's been 10 days since we've been to a marina. Lots of laundry and some re-provisioning to do. Need fuel and water too.

La Buena Vita

That's the name of the boat anchored in front of us here on Ft George River (The Good Life). Yep still at Ft George River.

The weather forecast for the St Augustine area this morning changed from "clear" to 80% rain near 1/2" and 20 - 25 kt winds. A previous unforecast LO had formed off of Canaveral last night.

A check of the weather radar showed rain already at St Augustine and coming towards us this morning at 7am. I decided to stay put and make Pine Island tomorrow.

Skat and Victoria Gaye made it here before the rain hit us here. We will all head to Pine Island tomorrow morning. Because of the weather this afternoon no one feels like launching dinghies and visiting so we just chat on the radios.

It has been a very cool 65 degree afternoon with light rain and wind. The forecast 20- 25 didn't show here.

A good day to just relax and read. Had to run the GenSet a while since the batteries were getting low -- little wind and sun for the wind generator and solar panels.

Hot soup and sandwiches for dinner tonight then on to the St Augustine area tomorrow morning.

Oh the moon didn't come out till after 8pm last night. It got really really dark before that. There are no lights here. It was the kind of dark that is claustrophobic. Most people never experience that kind of darkness except in planetariums.

Slave Plantation

We had a bit of rain last night but nothing terrible. It was still spitting this morning but the forecast had it all going away for most of the day.

I was ready to go. I'm tired of Fernandina and looking for another location. Ideally we would go to Pine Island anchorage but it is 49 miles away and on the other side of some terrific adverse currents. Ten hours would be calling it too close.

We needed to wait for a later start to get at least 6 feet of water under the boat before tackling the Amelia and South Amelia rivers today. We left about 8:45am or 1.5 hours before high tide. It was great. We had a following swift current and plenty of water through all the trouble areas never seeing less than 12 feet.

I decided to put in at Ft. George River anchorage since Pine Island would be just too far today. We were in and anchored down by 12noon. We anchored right in front of the Old Kingsley Plantation House. It is the oldest plantation house in Florida and very well preserved and operated by the park service. Admission was free too!!

After lunch we toured it and learned a lot about how these slave plantations operated back in the 1700s.

The grounds were impeccable and information placards everywhere.

Since we were anchored directly in front of the buildings we heard a lot of comments about the sailboat out front. Once back on the boat we had our picture taken by several visitors.

I wasn't going to stop here but Skat and Victoria Gaye said it would be a good one and they are right.

Time to cook some steaks on the grill tonight with a shrimp appetizer and then turn in for an early start in the morning for Pine Island. St Augustine is just 13 miles passed Pine Island and we will probably stop there on Tuesday.

Another fun day in Fernandina

We had a quiet night on the hook last night. You need those occasionally.

We went to the Farmer's Market this morning and it was nice. Lot's of fresh veggies and bakery and craft stuff. Live music and a whole menagerie of characters walking around.

A nice inexpensive day. Bought some veggies for 7 dollars, a cold water for a buck, and 16 AA Alkaline batteries for $6.95.

We just walked the town for a few hours after that.

Back on the boat to relax. Batteries were getting low so ran the genset and ran the hot water heater and we had some welcome hot showers.

It's all clouded up now with rain expected tonight. Might be over by morning. If so we will head to the Pine Island Anchorage which is a LONG 49 mile day. If we can't leave early then we will rethink our approach. This part if the ICW in Northern Florida has very few good anchorages until you get to Pine Island. Most are just wide spots behind marks or very narrow creeks. Lots of marinas if you want to pay for the night though. I don't..

Not much else to report. Just an easy fun day.

Consorting with Dummies

Whoo -- last night it got active in the anchorage. A predicted cold front came across but packed more wind then forecast. Naturally it really ramped up about 2am. I didn't sleep well. Because of the strong wind and opposing currents the boats were all over the place. No two boats pointing in the same direction.

This morning just as it got light I could tell I was perpendicular to the current -- not good at all. I went on deck and I was over my anchor rode (it was going behind the boat rather than the boat hanging from it.

I was sure my anchor rode had wrapped the keel -- a very bad thing. The wind was gusting to 25 and the current strong so nothing to do until slack tide. Fortunately about an hour later I checked and I was hanging correctly. Whew I didn't want to have to deal with that. I've had it happen on another boat and helped other folks that had it happen to them -- no fun and high probability of someone getting hurt.

The ladies had all made appointments to get a pedicure today so come hell or high water it was going to happen.

The wind laid down around 11am and we all went to town for a fine seafood lunch at the Marina Restaurant. It was great and we swapped a lot of stories. Afterwards I went back to the boat and the ladies all went to the salon. After about 2 hours I went back to town and walked around a while. I eventually found a park that had memorials to the founding fathers of Amelia Island. I sat on a bench with one of these brass mannequins (dummy). It was in the shade. Boy don't stop moving in Fernandina. I couldn't believe all the strangers that had to come up and make comments about me and "my buddy" e.g. "better keep moving or you will end up like him", "I like your buddy better", "does he talk your ear off?".

Ohh well all in good fun. Karen came back from the pedicure with shiny toes but I was disappointed in that there were no bells on her toes.

It's a beautiful calm night here tonight. Hopefully I'll sleep better.

I've been to dreamland

Boy I was beat yesterday after being up 30 hours and wired tight from the offshore passage.

After dinner I went to bed at 8:30pm and slept non-stop till 4:30am. Longest stretch in years. I've conditioned myself to get up and look around 3 - 5 times a night when I'm on anchor. No problem because I can sleep on command and go right back to sleep. I never feel tired in the mornings. Last night I was dead to the world.

I went back to bed after a short inspection and then I entered dreamland. WOW what dreams -- all were nice none were scary. The most interesting was one were we were at party in West End Grand Bahama with Jim and Barb from Skat and many old friends from work of which some are dead now. I remember being at a table eating little Debbie Cake cookies, Karen showed up with a treat -- Hostess Cupcakes, then a waiter shows up with a large portion of Tirmasu dripping in honey. Oh boy I get to eat all this and Tirmasu too and wash it all down with Amaretto -- Jim said "that's too much sugar".

Other nice dreams but I can not divulge those details without getting in trouble.

Today was a low energy day. My bilge counter indicated that the pump ran three times during our offshore voyage. Water was coming in somewhere. I checked the stuffing boxes and sure enough the rudder stuffing box was wet and there was a trail of water coming from it. I tightened it. My prop shaft stuffing box was fine. It is supposed to drip a little and never drips and never runs hot so I don't touch it.

All the other equipment looked fine.

Kudos to the engine and fuel system that never clogged in all that rolling and the autopilot that did 99.9997% of the steering. Not bad for a couple of pieces of 24 year old equipment.

I cleaned the interior of the boat, updated the inventory log. and just relaxed.

Karen went to town and walked for a couple of hours but I hung on the boat and puttered around.

Dinner will be on the grill tonight. No one wants to socialize tonight but tomorrow the crews from Skat, Victoria Gaye and Temptation will take the town of Fernandina by storm!

Note to offshore cruisers: Turn your cell phones off when going more that 10 miles offshore. The phone will exhaust its battery pretty quick. Both our phones had dead batteries when we arrived here in Fernandina yesterday.

Was the offshore passage worth it? Well I met some cruisers who did come via the ICW and one who went out Savanna river after hearing several boats in Fields Cut calling Boat/US for tows. I think so. It would have taken 8 days on the ICW and lots of worrying and action through the low water areas. I'm glad we did it -- just wished it wasn't so rolly.

Life inside your washing machine

This trip from Charleston, SC to Fernandina, FL on the outside was planned with the best intentions.

The forecasts all predicted winds of 5-10 knots from the NW going E. Waves of 1 - 2 feet. It looked great.

This trip would save us 8 days of travel through problem areas in SC and GA. We were all for that.

The forecast was right on -- that's what we found. BUT what we didn't consider and will never forget again is the effect of those mild seas and winds and the ride. They were beam on for 12 hours which caused the boats to roll from side to side sometimes very aggressively.

We left Charleston Harbour or tried to on the Ebb tide but met 2 large container ships at the start of the inlet. We waited for them to pass rather than try to negotiate with them in a crowded waterway.

That cost us an hour. Then out we went with mild swells. It was not uncomfortable. We had that ride till dark then the wind increased to 7 - 10 knots which caused us to roll some. There wasn't enough wind to fill my sail so we had to take the roll, otherwise the sail would have dampened it.

When we approached the Savannah River entrance we found several large AIS targets. Mainly container ships on anchor waiting to enter Savannah. We also had a few large ships under way. Boy I'm glad I have an AIS transducer on board. These boats could see and read my track. We were on a first name basis too.

Once through that mess we headed 20 miles to the next way point. On this leg the wind came up and we started to roll uncomfortably. Once pass that point I decided to make a run on the Rhumb line to the last point at Fernandina. This both shortened the ride and gave me a better angle on the swells but pushed me further offshore. That worked for 2 hours until the winds went light again and then I had to bring sail in and we started to roll again. It was tough and a VERY LONG night.

The near full moon helped in that we could see a lot on the water but it disappeared behind clouds about an hour before dawn. Man it was DARK then.

Once the sun came up we felt better but still the hours of rolling was really wearing everyone down.

Ohh we had a roll call every hour on the hour after dark with Skat and Victoria Gaye. That worked very well. We were all within 1/4 mile of each other until the last 4 hours when we all tried different approaches to minimize the rolling -- nothing worked very well.

We are all anchored here in Fernandina and plan to spend a few days here and Cumberland Island before moving on.

No get together tonight as we all try to recover from this marathon voyage. I won't do this again until we cross to the Bahamas in December.

We had the roll all the way to the end of the inlet in Fernandina. We anchored in Bell River in Fernandina and the smooth calm water never felt better.

After a little reorganization and Sun Showers I tried to do a few other things but I started to hallucinate -- I had been up for 35 hours by this time. I thought a large mound of mud was a ship coming in when it was just a large mound of mud -- not moving.

How NOT to win friends and influence people

Today I was up early checking weather and sea conditions and listening to Chris Parker to see if it still was a good idea to head offshore to Fernandina tomorrow. All looked good then I thought hey we are looking at the wind sea conditions for out to 20nm but if we run the rumb line we will be about 40nm from the coast at times. I checked the forecast for 20 - 60nm offshore and it had more wind and bigger seas 3-5 foot with occasional 6 footers. Karen would not like that. The out to 20nm was still light winds and seas to 2 feet.

I got the boys together and we agreed to take the inside route especially since it was only 7 nm longer.

Great we have a plan. I paid the bill. Then back on Temptation I asked for some dockhand assistance with lines since we were turning in close proximity to a lot of high dollar boats. Two guys came down. One friendly and the other was a grumpy guy who drove us on the van a few times. He was a rough driver. Barb got severely motion sick on one ride. I never tipped him. he never got out of the van to help or unload provisions or park near the carts where other drivers did.

Any way they asked how I wanted to cast off. I said throw the spring and stern on board then hold the bow line to control as I backed out of the slip. The nice guy threw the lines off as asked and the grumpy guy held the bow line, and as I started to back, he just threw it onboard abandoning any control for me. We were fortunate and got out okay but it was very tight. What a Bozo..

We went to Buck's Roadstead anchorage across from Nun 2 at the Battery. Beautiful view but rolly from boat wakes. Jim and Barb joined us later and we had a pretty nice afternoon until some BIG ASS Mega Yacht came through casting a huge tsunami style wake. It both rocked our world and rang our bells. Jim was so fed up he left for the old anchorage.

It's dark now and there have been no repeats and it is quite nice here. Although a Coast Guard Cutter ran an exercise near us with a Coast Guard Chopper about 100 feet up off his stern. He created quite a wind near us but didn't bother us too much.

We are staged and ready to head offshore in the morning if the forecasts hold. Decision time 9am with departure at 10am.

Should be a nice run down the coast. Probably won't post a blog tomorrow night but will on Wednesday. I'll post a few position reports so you can see our progress down the coast. We will only be from 9 - 12 miles offshore.

Bon Voyage.

GREAT Eating in Charleston

This morning dawned EARLy -- like 6:15am!! Thanks to going back to EST. On the flip side it is pitch dark at 5:45pm!!

Today was nice but a very cool and blustery day. The big winds subsided overnight and so the rain. We actually had lots of rain last evening forcing us to postpone Farkle for the Thompson's but not the Youngsters the Turners.

We played 4 games but I only won one. Ohhh Boo Hoo.


It was 42 here this morning and maybe 40
tomorrow morning then up to 65 then 71 on Tuesday and 75 on Wednesday.

Back in the good stuff.

We are planning to head offshore from here on Tuesday and do an Overnight to
Fernandina and skip all that skinny water in lower SC and GA. Buck, Jim and I had a great planning session this afternoon.

If the forecast holds then -- out the door we go,

We will be three -- Skat, Victoria Gaye, and Temptation. Bubbles wants to
continue down the ditch. Never done it and they are looking forward to it.

At 11am we took the shuttle to Charleston's classic Hyman's Seafood on Meeting Street. It was great. The food is good and the service excellent.

Afterwards we walked 4 blocks to the Harris Teeter on Bay Street and did some more provisioning. We are good for a few weeks now.

Back at the MArina they had had a major oil leak. One of the 4" Diesel supply lines ruptured and dumped a LOT of fuel in the water. Man it really stinks here tonight.

After our planning session this afternoon I had another VERY LONG hot shower -- what an indulgence. Tomorrow it is back to the "bird bath".

My hip where I fell Friday is much improved today. Two more days and I suspect all pain will be gone. Don't know where my tough bones come from but I'm glad I have them.

Now try to find some ways to amuse ourselves during these long winter evening.

Smoke on the Water

"Smoke on the Water". I've heard he expression but never seen it until today. Wow it was neat. The water temp is mid 70s and the air temp this morning was 42 degrees with high winds -- 20+ and gusts in the mid 30s.

Not bad here in the marina but a bit bouncy and noisy with small waves slapping the hull.

I tore down the spare water pump and replaced one bladder in it. It is pumping but weak. I think it needs new valves. I'll get some for delivery at Vero Beach.

We made the run (only once a day) to West Marine and picked up the Garmin Glo Bluetooth GPS to connect to Karen's IPAD. Should work great.

I'm still feeling the effects of my fall yesterday so after lunch I took a nap then a REAL shower in the very nice showers at the marina. I used a ton of hot water!!

BAck on the boat to check over a few things and do some reading. Karen quilted all day and had the table tied up till she went for a shower.

With the wind, cold, and drizzle no one feels like visiting tonight so we will just amuse ourselves on the boat tonight.

Plan to make a second large provisioning run tomorrow.

The forecast looks good for a gentle offshore passage from here to Fernandina Beach on Tuesday -- Monday if you are a hearty sailor but us "pleasure boaters" will wait till Tuesday.

Just us Chickens here tonight

I had a restless night on the hook here. The anchorage is deep and I had a 100 foot of chain out. Spacing looked good when we arrived with strong current and stiff breeze but as the night wore on and the wind became light we started to hang to just the chain rather than the anchor. Now we were getting close to boats that I didn't expect to be close to. Thus a restless night constantly checking to be sure we didn't go bump in the night.

This morning I hailed the City Docks marina to let them know we where here and ready to come in when they had space. They said they were ready.

We pulled the anchor and first went to the mega dock for fuel -- 19 gallons. Then surprisingly they had a slip for us inside the docks -- better than we expected. The light wind and current made docking easy. They were calling for 25 knot winds tomorrow and I didn't want to be navigating in close spaces then or be put on the outside of the Mega-Dock.

Our buds SKAT and BUBBLES and Victoria Gaye heard the weather forecast and thy decided to come to the marina today too rather than face those 25kt + winds tomorrow -- thus the "chickens" have all come to roost tonight.

We were settled by 10:45am so we had an early lunch and took the 12 noon shuttle to Harris Teeter for provisions. We didn't go crazy since we thought -- hell we will just go there tomorrow and Sunday too. We plan to leave Monday after this absurd weather passes.

While checking out I told Karen I was going to head to the liquor store across the street for some GNT -- Gin and Tonic.

I picked up a bottle and the WORSE happened. I stepped out of the store and twisted my ankle and down I went in a heap!! Folks ran quickly to help me. I guess an old guy splat on the pavement elicits that kind of response. I said no I was fine. I only had a sore hip and a bloody elbow but my brand new never worn jeans were still okay. Grrrr.

We checked out from the grocery then Karen noticed the gravel imbedded in my elbow -- what happened to you?! Can it get any worse failing out of a liquor store?

Back on the boat and everything put away I tackled our wayward water pump. Hell I have a spare let's just replace it. So I cut the wires and re-plumbed the spare in and wired it up -- no joy. Would not pump. I looked at the old one and I found that were the piston rod meets the diaphragm it was loose. Meee bad -- I replaced the diaphragm several days ago. I fixed that and reinstalled that pump and it worked fine. I'll tear down the spare tomorrow to see what is going on with it.

Busy day here -- Karen did laundry and I filled the water tanks. There was a free happy hour on the docks so I joined in that for an half hour -- pain killer for my earlier injuries.

Now back on the boat waiting for the big Arctic blast tonight -- so far --- NADA.

Charleston Anchorage

There is another section of skinny water between Dewees Creek and the Ben Sawyer Bridge. The worst is around marker 117A. We timed the tide today to pass near mid to high tide. The ride was uneventful until approaching 117A. At the intersection of creeks just before 117A it dropped to 9 feet. Then back to 11 -20. Thought it was over but 200yds past 117A we dropped to 6.9 feet. Eeeeeck. For then next couple of miles we hovered above and below 10 feet. Not much fun.

Once through the Ben Sawyer we had a nice ride across Charleston Harbour. We anchored in the area across from the City Marina -- deep water like 24 feet. Not too crowded but all the boats on lots of scope so difficult to judge.

There was a 300+ foot Mega YAcht directly across from us. Even equipped with a helicopter on a stern pad. Karen Google Atessa IV and found it was a 250 million dollar boat!! Yow!

The anchorage is strange. We had a lighted buoy float by us. Just a wanderer. A guy that looked like Rip Van Winkle in a homemade tiny boat powered with a trolling motor ghost by us to the wreck of a boat near us. A couple of other boats that came and short scoped their anchors and just dragged them till the stuck -- probably just for awhile.

We are anchored below the bridges on the Ashley River and there are sirens a couple of times an hour.

Should be a mild night. The big Arctic blast is scheduled for tomorrow night but we should be tied up in the marina tomorrow morning. I really hope they didn't overbook reservations.

Oh yes Buck and Vickie have caught up with us but they anchored just south of us near the waterfront battery. Saturday the whole flotilla should be in City Marina for big doings in the big town.

Low Country Delight

We are anchored in Dewees creek which is smack in the low country of South Carolina. Nothing but marsh grasses in all directions. Little to no boat traffic once off the ICW.

We spent the day cleaning and organizing the many things we brought aboard 2 weeks ago. Takes time to find a home for everything but slowly our living space is improving.

It's a thankless yet necessary chore.

I called Charleston City MArina and asked to come in on Friday rather than Saturday. It took some hold time but they finally agreed.

Apparently the wait list is a myth. I was on it for the 27th through the 31st and they never called yet a friend of mine called yesterday and was given a reservation for the 31st!! Arrgh. Oh well seems to work out now.

We just need to decide how to enter there. Big winds coming Saturday and I went to be safely attached to the dock before that. I don't want to be maneuvering this ol yacht between a couple of Mega yachts and have the wind push me into one.. It would quickly exhaust my liability insurance.

I took a dinghy ride and some pictures. The current is horrendous here but the Rocna makes us proud.

Another sailboat came in and anchored with us today -- no problem -- lots of room here.

We expect some storms tonight but nice tomorrow so might go and anchor off the docks tomorrow or maybe wait till Friday and just head straight in.

Need to time the tides around the Ben Sawyer bridge though. Skinny water reported there.

Maybe some games tonight. LAst night was okay -- I won one of 3 Farkle and threatened a second. We still all had great fun.

The place of shame

Today we traveled from Awendaw Creek to Dewees Creek -- Long Creek, about 22 miles.

We got a late start at 10:30am because of pea soup fog this morning. Really surprising since last night I was on deck at 12 midnight and 2am for an anchor check and the sky was absolutely clear. No light pollution in Awendaw Creek. It was great to finally discern the milky way again.

We traveled on the rising tide and hit Dewees just after high tide. Good thing. That Red marker 108 is where I ran aground back in 2009. Hell everyone does it but it was the only grounding I had in that 8 month trip to the Bahamas and back -- my place of shame.

Well I had 14 feet crossing near there today.

The anchorage in Long Creek is quite large but deep water. Low tide at 23' and high tide near 29 but the holding is good and the anchor set instantly.

This is just another great weather day in a long string of days -- I guess it ends this Saturday with the first big Arctic blast of the season. We should be tied up in the City Docks of Charleston for that. Time to re-provision and do laundry.

In the meantime we will just kill a couple of days here -- costs nothing.

We are anchored with SKAT and BUBBLES and should be playing some Mexican Train tonight ... I don't think they want me to play Farkle again just yet.

Steady as she goes

Last night Georgetown lost some of its charm. We were anchored off the Independent fish house dock and a beer soaked deckhand went off on us. It was around 9pm and we wanted to put our dinghy and motor away before morning. I turned on the after deck lights and we hoisted both aboard and were securing them when a crazed deck hand on a fishing boat docked at the independent fish house started shouting obscenities and other unpleasantries towards us. Take it for what it was it just irritated us that this hard working guy had no idea who really paid his pay check.

The rest of the night was uneventful but I didn't sleep well. All those fishing boats over there left between 4 and 6 am -- tough life but freely chosen.

We had ourselves psyched out for a tense passage through shallow water today -- all to no avail. We had planned to pass the worst at full tide and we did. Saw nothing less than 11 feet. There is a 6 foot tide here so at low tide we could not get through. We draw 5'5".

The shallowest was at McClellanville Green 37A but we got through fine. We headed past all the reported problem areas and put into Awendaw Creek to anchor. The three amigos were still together -- SKAT, BUBBLES, and TEMPTATION.

This is a nice anchorage with plenty of swing room. Never been here before but I would use it again. There is a very strong current through here so it will be interesting to see how the Rocna Anchor handles it.

Everyone was pooped after the tense 36 mile passage today so no games tonight. We will probably split to different anchorages tomorrow and then rendezvous in Charleston Saturday for a few days.

I hope to sleep well tonight. I was restless last night and I got up at 5:30am this morning thinking it was 6:30am and I was late. I like getting up at 6 for long day passages and reviewing the charts before we go.

Tomorrow should be a light day -- I hope.

Just a lazy day in Georgetown

Another fine weather day -- it is getting scary how many we have strung together now.

I finally found the grocery store on my bike this morning -- a Piggly Wiggly. Just picked up a couple of items for ourselves and Skat.

Back on the boat we puttered around and charged batteries for a while -- Karen quilted on her machine We broke in the new Brita Filter Pitcher. The Faucet filter would only last a few gallons so we had to try something different.

Rode around the harbour a few times. Watched Boat/US boat raise a partially submerged fishing boat -- a small one.

Visited with SKAT and BUBBLEs and planned our assault on McCellansville tomorrow. No water there at low tide and we need to work the timing. Will be a long tense day tomorrow.

Had Rib Eye for dinner and just soaked up the Georgetown atmosphere today.

We should make a good stab towards Charleston tomorrow.

Actually we could have left this afternoon and went offshore to Charleston arriving tomorrow morning but the ladies would have none of that -- yet..

Looking forward to a mild evening and early departure tomorrow. No one wanted to play Farkle tonight. MAybe it was because I won all the games last night!! A new Farkle king is crowned.

Just got word the Space Station would fly over us tonight -- sure enough about 7:40pm we saw it and tracked it for 5 minutes ... way cool.

Layday in Georgetown

Finally a real lay day in Georgetown. Didn't have to fix anything!!

I had a nice sleep on the hook last night. Nothing went bump in the night.

Today we just puttered around the town. Karen went shopping and I took my bike ashore and tried to find the Piggly Wiggly. All to no avail. I should have made a map..

Well I had a nice ride around town, bought some fresh shrimp off the dock which didn't turn out to be that fresh. Bummer.

We just puttered and watch who was coming and who was going in the harbour. I'm sure we will meet these boats again down the ICW.

Tomorrow will be another lay day. We don't plan to leave until Monday.

Tonight it is about Farkle. Everyone is feeling pretty good about their anchorage so we will join on Temptation for a little Farkle Mania tonight and plan out assault on McClellanville Monday. No water there around low tide so we have to time our passage through there.

Federal money for all kinds of crazy things but nothing to keep the waterway open. What a bunch of BOZOS..

Georgetown Harbour

Made it to Georgetown harbour this afternoon. Thought we would never make it. The current was against us for all but the last 12 miles. Our speed picked up and so did our attitudes. The three amigos are still together but no one wants to leave their boat tonight.

The harbour is crowded. All the free mooring balls folks raved about are gone. We had to anchor close to existing mostly derelict boats. If we don't go bump in the night it will be worth it.

Jim and Barb and Craig and Dovie have never been here before. Karen will give the tour tomorrow. We like Georgetown.

The ride through the Waccama was very nice. Very little traffic but one dim bulb on a sport fisher went by at speed spreading a 4 foot bow wave. What an ass hole!! Rocked our world.

Lots to see in the harbour this afternoon. Looking forward to walking the streets tomorrow and at least buying some fresh fish. The fish market is right off our beam here.

I suspect we will stay here through Sunday. It's that kind of place.

OSPREY

Well we heard several cruisers rave about the Osprey Marina at the mouth of the Waccama River so we decided to try it -- that and they have the cheapest diesel fuel around at $3.19 a gallon. This is our first stop for fuel and I took on 45 gallons.

The trip down was only 19 miles but damn if two trawlers pulled ahead of me just as we reached he Socaste swing bridge. Sail boaters are the cheapest cruisers but trawler operators in worn out ragged looking ones are just as cheap. Sure enough one ducked in just ahead of us. The marina said they could still accommodate us on their 25 foot face dock -- hell we are 42 feet!! Conditions were mild so we took it. They were very friendly and accommodating and tied us up nicely. We took on 48 gallons of diesel and 2 gallons of Gas and had holding tanks pumped out .. Crap still took nearly 2 hours!

Then we raced to do laundry. We had a week and half worth. Where they put us in the marina we had to use a golf cart to get around -- they provided free. That and only a dollar a foot and $1.50 to wash and dry each.

Very friendly and very picturesque back in here.

Well the gang is all here tonight. Bubbles came in behind us and Skat arrived yesterday. It will be a Farkle tournament of the TITANs tonight.

We plan to anchor off Butler Island tomorrow then onto Georgetown, SC for a mooring on Saturday. Got to slow down since the city marina at Charleston can't accommodate us until November lst.

Wish me luck at Farkle tonight.

A Layday? Not yet!

We are still having issues with the fresh water system. It is getting air in from an unknown source and causing the pump to not work properly.

I spent two hours on it today to no avail. I ordered a new strainer filter which we will pickup in Charleston along with some other stuff.

I had to work on a sanitation valve today too and it was not nice at all. When you pull it apart some effluent always comes out -- yuck!!

We made up new longer lines for our fenders today since most of the marinas we will head to for awhile will all have floating docks. I had plenty of nice old lines to work with so that went well.

Had to work on the shower faucet for the forward head too... It was a lot of work but I was done by 1pm and could then drop back into "Island Time".

We played leap frog with our friends today. Around 10:30am I heard SKAT call the bridge here for an opening and they sailed past us -- Osprey Marina for the day. Around 3pm Craig and Dovie came in on Bubbles and tied up in front of us. I think we will all rendezvous in Osprey tomorrow then plan too push on to Charleston for another gathering around Nov 1.

The weather has been unbelievably nice for this time of year. We understand it and accept it -- it won't last forever.

Tomorrow we enter the Waccama River -- always a great interesting ride. We will stop for full at OSprey Marina and if they have room will stay there otherwise we will anchor in creek off the Waccama.

Great trip to Barefoot Landing -- Myrtle Beach

Darn those pesky fisherman in Pipeline Canal. They were at it early this morning -- rocking our world just before sun up. I was glad to leave at 7:30am.

Today would be a long slog of 44nm to Barefoot Landing Marina. We had to cross 3 inlets. No problem at Lockwood Folly and Shalotte. At Little River we approached the crossing with Calabash Creek at 11:30am or just before low tide. I thought about anchoring in Calabash but it is a tricky entrance even in mid to high tide. We pushed on. I did find some skinny water at Red 2 on the ICW just passed Little River Inlet -- 7 feet.

All the bridges opened on requests -- little boat traffic. Went through the Rock Pile at about 2 hours after low tide and it still looked intimidating but not like at low tide.. Karen was somewhat impressed.

We had an easy docking at Barefoot Landing Marina. I have to say the staff here is the friendliest I found anywhere. Highly recommend them. It is $1.50 a foot but free electricity and a free shuttle to a very nice BiLow Grocery. We bought a bunch but still went out to dinner tonight at the Flying Fish. I had the Swordtail and Karen had Grouper. Dee-licious. This is the first night in the last 8 that we are not swinging at anchor. Should be great sleeping tonight.

Transiting Cape Fear

Today we traveled from Wrightsville Beach to Pipe Line Canal just past Southport, NC. The major part of the trip is running down the Cape Fear River from Carolina Beach to Southport.

In the past I've always had a non-descript uneasiness on the Cape Fear. Could be because I have difficulty sorting out all the channel markers or maybe we have had very slow passages and breaking waves on the bow when wind and current are opposed. The current on Cape Fear is FEARSOME!../

Today though we would have the current with us and very light winds.

We left Wrightsville at 7:30am and immediately ran into a movie production crew filming where the Masonboro Inlet intersects the ICW. It was cool they had this boat with a boom and a very large camera on it and ran down the ICW followed by six other boats and a skidoo dragging a platform and stunt man. Ahh to be a young man again.

It was entertaining and maybe Temptation will have a cameo appearance in a movie -- they wouldn't tell me the name but they kept asking about our hailing port -- Bahama, NC. I was being hailed by the boat called "STARDUST".

We had a fast ride to Carolina Beach Inlet -- crossed it then slowed dramatically -- ohhh the power of current. A slow ride down Snows Cut and when we crossed into Cape Fear our Speed Over Ground jumped to the 7s!! We even had to negotiate around a heavily loaded Container ship heading for Wilmington. Just before we reached Southport our SOG had increased to 10.2 kts!! But our speed through the water was only 5.5 knots so we were not surfing.

What a ride ! 28 NM in 4.5 hours. We hit Pipe line at exactly low tide and had to ghost in. Only 6' water and we draw 5.5.

We anchored by 12:30 and had a nice lunch of Roberts Chicken Salad.

I spent the afternoon puttering on the boat and reading Clive Cusler "Atlantis Found". Karen quilted all afternoon using up all the amps from our solar panels.

There was a boat ramp here and it was surprising how many people don't work on Mondays and can just play. Most looked to young to retire so what is their story? Don't get me started but too many able body folks are on Social Security Disability.

Grrr I was behind an attractive young woman at the grocery the other day and she paid for some groceries with an EBT card -- FOOD STAMPS -- then paid cash for her designer dog food. She was wearing some very nice designer jeans and left in very new 4 door Dodge Pickup with very fancy wheel rims.. You know the ones that cost a $1000 each..

Ohh well I just slum it in my yacht tonight.

Wrightsville - Easy Peasy

Another lay day in Wrightsville. Last night was kind of rough. A dry cold front arrived about 9:30pm and it blew really hard. I remember the time because I had just been beaten in third game of Farkle. Jim and Barb left HAPPY!.

I had to sleep in the main cabin to do an anchor watch -- I'm just more comfortable -- just sleep deprived. Fortunately the Rocna did us proud again and we didn't budge.

Karen wanted some more milk and meat and so we walked about a mile to a 7-11 style store for it. Hey when your cruising you have to go forage where you can.

Well that was our exercise for the day. Back on the boat we just puttered around. Craig and Dovie where on there way and we expected to see them this afternoon.

Jeff Whitfield KI4JDE who lives here called and we asked him out for a visit this afternoon. Actually he wanted to come yesterday but I had that ordeal with the fresh water pump and couldn't entertain.

Craig and Dovie arrived around 3pm and really flustered. They had run aground twice that day and were shook.. No problem we said -- we all do it. It's just part of the adventure.

Jeff came out about 4pm and we had a nice visit with Jim and Craig. The ladies all stayed home because they knew we would just talk boring HF radio stuff.

Nice evening and Chili for supper. It's getting down to the 40s tonight. Brrr -- I still have my summer blood weight.

Ahh a lay day

A lay day is pretty much a day you don't do anything. Just eat and drink and soak up the local color.

The day started that way. I puttered around the new dinghy and applied a coat of "new skin" from ISland Girl. Then went to the beach and walked around. Got to dip those toes in the Atlantic.

Beach was crowded with kids from UNC Wilmington. Man I wish someone had paid my way through school in a town like this. They don't know how they have it made at this age.

BAck on the boat I had some lunch of Robert's famous chicken salad and then relaxed watching the young kids play on the sail fish and other small sailing dinghies all sponsored by the local yacht club.

It was enjoyable until about 3pm when the call went out "no water!". Karen couldn't rinse he dishes.

Well it looked like the pickup tube plugged again but hadn't. While looking at the shelf with the pump I noticed it all wet. Then I saw water coming out of the top of the pump. Great.. Investigation showed a diaphragm had burst. I replaced that with some difficulty because of all the boat traffic rocking the boat. Still it did not pump. Further investigation showed some debris in the pump filter but after that was cleaned it still didn't work.

The suction from the pump felt weak so I replaced the valves. Now it works Yippee... Now I need to order some new spare parts.

Dinner was just leftovers. Jim and Barb came over at 7:30pm to try to take the Farkle championship away from me.. Well they did. Everyone won a game tonight except me -- Boo Hoo.

Just before they left thew forecast cold front arrived. A dry one with no rain but lots of wind. Guess I won't sleep soundly tonight

Hopefully I'll be able to enjoy a real Lay Day tomorrow.

BuBu - what's up!

We had a really nice ride from Mile Hammock Bay to Wrightsville Beach yesterday. The trip around the New River Inlet was uneventful. The lowest water was 9 feet at 2 hours before low tide. Once around the inlet the markers start over at 2.

The current was against us for about 2 hours then we had a favorable current most of the way to Wrightsville. Around marker 99 though we had some real "skinny water. Green can buoys near the red side and obvious sand encroaching from the Red. Ohh but I'm ahead of myself.

As we were approaching this area a sailboat called BuBu was slowly and painfully approaching and trying to pass on my starboard side. HE was probably a half k not faster than us. Finally I got fed up and was approaching an inlet where I was between the inlet and BuBu and the red marker. Not a good p,lace so I slowed down to idle and let him pass. We go back up to cruising speed and not more than a couple of minutes later BuBu suddenly slows down. I'm fast gaining on him and I don't see anything real unusual except those 2 can buoys on the red side. I get on channel 16 and I exclaim the usually boat call sign and question and it comes out "BuBu - what's up!" Everybody had a life. Sounded like dialogue from a cartoon.

We made the bridges easily but hit Figure Eight Island bridge on the half hour. Wrightsville only opens on the hour and we can't make it in 30 minutes so we half to kill 90 minutes now. So we just drifted down on Wrightsville - a whole pack of boats.

While going down there and near the bridge I start to play with the radio and hail Jim. I get him on the line and start talking just as my depth alarm goes off and I bump the bottom -- soft mud and I get off easily. But due to my exclamation while transmitting -- Jim knows it too. Ohh how embarrassing.

Wrightsville anchorage is pretty crowded. We find a spot near Jim and Barb on the south side of Motts Channel entrance buoys. The new-ol Rockna just dug in on the first try -- I am pleased.

First I half to troubleshoot and fix the fresh water system. The pump is running but no water -- tanks have plenty. I check the filter and sure enough at its entrance there is a pack of white crystals from the tank blocking it. Clean it out and the water is flowing easily again.

We get ready and head to Roberts Grocery. Unfortunately we find it partially empty and limited pickings -- it's being remodeled.

Karen goes for a walk and I head to the Motts Seafood store for some fresh fish for dinner. Found some fine Grouper and a pound of fresh shrimp. Good eating tonight.

After dinner we went to the Thompson's and played Farkle. I'm pleased to say I won all three games!! They be looking for revenge tonight.

We plan to stay until Monday then it's off to the Cape Fear River.

Today we just play at the beach and on the boat.

Trawlers Galore

I love the weather after a big system runs through. Blue skies and crisp air.

We left Spooner's at 7:30am and had a nice run down the ICW to Mile Hammock bay -- a short run of 34 miles. We entered Mile Hammock and we were the first boats to arrive.. Ahh the pickings were great.

I kinda took a nap after awhile and when I woke up 2 trawlers and a sailboat had arrived. Then more POURED in. When it was all over we had 17 boats in here tonight. Kinda close but no weather or big wind expected tonight so should be fine.. For those that know -- the intrepid DYAD of "Big Dumb Boat" came in at just sundown.

We had sundowners with Jim and Barb tonight and it was great fun commenting on how these new arrivals anchored and where they chose to anchor. Karen gave a few the look of "are you kidding me!!".

While others made questionable choice in where to anchor -- Dyad picked a great spot for the last boat in.

Trawlers Galore -- man I have never see so many trawlers underway in one day. We must have been passed by 20 today. All the high dollar mega trawlers went onto Wrightsville Beach just the cheapo wanna be sail boaters came into Mile Hammock bay.

No military maneuvers here tonight so pretty quiet so far.

Tomorrow an early exit and a tense passage around the New River Inlet and then on to Wrightsville Beach. We will stay there probably until Monday then run -- the anxious for me -- Cape Fear River to South Port.

Baby the rain must fall

And boy did it!! 1.91 inches since this morning. I didn't have the rain catcher set up last night so don't know how much then but it did pour!! lots of wind last night too.

We made a good decision to wait this weather pattern out here in Spooner's Creek. Only one other sailboat came in yesterday -- Jim and Barb on SKAT.. Everyone was too tired to visit last night but if this rain ends soon maybe tonight. It is supposed to be clear and nice tomorrow. Finally we will leave here.

Took advantage of the "lay" day to get some projects done. Fixed the cover on the life sling with a new Sunbrella top and made up a Velcro strap to secure the Soda Stream when we are underway.

Had one not so nice job this morning. Someone -- not saying who to avoid embarrassment was using the aft head when a loud pop was heard. The head on one of the anchor bolts broke off. Well can't let that go or we will have a bigger mess. I found a 2" bolt in the spares but needed 1 1/2". The bolts are not threaded all the way so I could not cut it down so I just added an extra nut and washer and Voila -- fixed. Of course it was the most difficult bolt to reach.

No Sun and not much wind in the rain today so the batteries were losing juice. I had to run the Genset for a couple of hours and the batteries are happy now. Used that time to charge everything and Karen did some ironing -- quilt stuff -- and sewing on her Juki. Its an 8KW genset and doesn't care what we turn on..

Waiting for the rain to stop which should be in the next hour and we can open some ports to let the heat out from the genset -- its not too bad.

Not much planned for the evening. Just view the warnings on the problem stretches of the ICW between here and Mile Hammock Bay and maybe some Farkle with Jim and Barb..

Expect the Unexpected

Today dawned nicely. I was up early to check the weather reports. Today would be blustery but manageable but tonight they expected strong thunderstorms and lots of rain tomorrow.

We planned on stopping at Mile Hammock Bay in Camp LeJeune which is good holding and somewhat sheltered but usually crowded. Not a good place to weather some storms.

While I was contemplating what to do I noticed we were near low tide and I wanted to know how much water was under me. I turned on the instruments and the depth sounder did not come online --- ohhh crap.

I knew I needed to dive on the boat and change some shaft zincs soon so today seemed like the perfect time now. I dove first on the depth sounder transducer and sure enough there was a mass of stuff on it. I scrapped that off and it started to work. I then changed the prop zinc (underwater now) and that went well. I had to fin my way against the incoming current to screw the 3 allen screws in. Visibility was not good. I then scrub a lot of the hull from the water but could not get down to the keel because of visibility. Over all the hull was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Ohh a little excitement while changing the zinc. A weird looking worm like creature kept rising above one of the prop fins to look at me. Kinda looked like a leech. I didn't have gloves on so I didn't shoo it away. I had to go up for a missing screw and when I returned it had left. Karen freaked when I told her about it.

Done by 11:30am and whipped. We decided to stay here to weather the storms tonight and tomorrow. Should be on the move again Thursday.

Jim and Barb on Skat just anchored near us so we will have some company tonight and tomorrow then on to Mile Hammock Bay unless the depth sounder acts up again.

It comes up but takes about 40 seconds. I don't remember it taking that long in the past. All we can do is watch it. If it is bad then we have to haul out to get it replaced.. Ohhh I don't want to do that.

Time to fix dinner.. Have a great evening.

We Be SNOW BIRDS!!!

WOW -- finally underway on our big Bahamas Cruise of 2014/2015.

Greetings Land Lubbers -- we are no longer one of you.. I hope you like this Blog.

Ohh the preparations have been non stop. Obstacles popped up every day. You have got to love it or it would never happen.

We left the marina at 7:30 and took all the dock lines -- no return..

No wind and an easy exit. The boat was very sluggish and slow reacting -- we are loaded to a inch of the water line -- normally 4 inches and there is slime on the bottom. I'll dive on the boat and scrub the bottom and change the Zincs at Wrightsville beach. The water is fairly clean and good visibility there.

Quiet on the Neuse until about 9am when a very thick sea fog came in. Visibility was down to less than 50 feet!! No problem we ran on instruments. My museum piece Garmin GPS (Garmin 48) at the forefront. Andy told me he saw my everyday GPS in a display of "Historical" GPS units at the Smithsonian this last summer.

When we approached the Ferry Crossing I turned on the Radar but it was not working -- hell worked 3 weeks ago..

The NC Ferries don't run AIS so I couldn't see them. At one mile I hailed the Ferry and asked if he saw me on his radar or AIS receiver -- unh huh -- I have an AIS transponder on board now..

He saw me ok. Said he was approaching the dock and no ferries would be leaving until 10:00 so I had 30 minutes to get across the crossing.. A piece of cake and then the fog lifted.

Nice run down Adams Creek and minimal hassle through the Turning Basin. We had a nice ride to Spooner's Creek and surprisingly we are the first boat on anchor here this afternoon at 3pm.

The Rocna anchor dropped backwards but still set immediately.. Got to love that anchor. The real test will be in 70 MPH winds in a storm -- probably this Wednesday. I think we will weather the storms at Mile Hammock Bay anchorage.

Heck it is 83 degrees here today and time for a well deserved Sun Shower.